Sherman Bummers

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Bummers was a nickname given to the foragers of Sherman's Army during the famous ( or infamous ) March to the Sea, and then through the Carolinas. Uncle Billy not only severed his communications with Lincoln and Grant so that his communications couldn't be intercepted, but he also planned to have the army living off the land with the help of these bummers. The designation " bummers " was used by civilians and soldiers alike to describe Sherman's foragers that were both official and unofficial. They would requisition food from Southern homes that lay in the route of the Army's march. Bummers became despised in the South for their highly destructive actions such as looting, vandalism, and setting homes on fire. Also their destruction of industrial property such as mills, cotton gins, and foundries prevented the South from sustaining it's war effort. All of this led to the realization that ultimately, the Confederacy was unable to successfully defend it's territory on All fronts.
One southern family's encounter with bummers was recorded by North Carolina resident and Civil War diarist, Jane Evans Elliot:
This day two weeks since, 12 of March was a day of sorrow and confusion never to be forgotten. Sherman’s army reached Fayetteville the day before, and at 9 o’clock Sunday morning, a party of raiders rushed in upon our peaceful home. They pillaged and plundered the whole day and quartered upon that night and staid [sic] until 5 o’clock Monday evening. Some part of the time there were at least three different parties. The house was rifled from garret to cellar. Took all our blankets and all [my husband’s] clothes, all our silver and knives and forks, all our luxuries, leaving nothing but a little meat and corn. They threatened [my husband’s] life repeatedly and one ruffian galloped up to the door and pulled out his matches to fire the house. Oh! it was terrible beyond description. It seems ever present to my mind. One night they strung fire all around us and we took up the children and dressed them and watched all night fearing the fire might consume our dwelling.

— Jane Evans Elliot, March 25, 1865.
bummers.jpg
 
One southern family's encounter with bummers was recorded by North Carolina resident and Civil War diarist, Jane Evans Elliot:
This day two weeks since, 12 of March was a day of sorrow and confusion never to be forgotten. Sherman’s army reached Fayetteville the day before, and at 9 o’clock Sunday morning, a party of raiders rushed in upon our peaceful home. They pillaged and plundered the whole day and quartered upon that night and staid [sic] until 5 o’clock Monday evening. Some part of the time there were at least three different parties. The house was rifled from garret to cellar. Took all our blankets and all [my husband’s] clothes, all our silver and knives and forks, all our luxuries, leaving nothing but a little meat and corn. They threatened [my husband’s] life repeatedly and one ruffian galloped up to the door and pulled out his matches to fire the house. Oh! it was terrible beyond description. It seems ever present to my mind. One night they strung fire all around us and we took up the children and dressed them and watched all night fearing the fire might consume our dwelling.

— Jane Evans Elliot, March 25, 1865.

Thanks for posting this.
 
It must have been terrifying. I just bumped into a similar account while looking for something else and like this, it's difficult to read. " Women in the War " is a comprehensive topic- one day someone will get around to including accounts like these in a book along with all the others.

Mrs. C. P. Poppenheim.
Charleston, S. C.

" In a few moments, a band of ruffians, a wild, savage looking set, dashed in the house, into the dining-room, and swept all the silver from the table, that was set for dinner; ran upstairs, broke open doors, locks and drawers, and the utmost confusion prevailed; the hammering sounded like one dozen carpenters were at work, and soon all the floors were covered with scattered papers, in their search for money and valuables. I go to the commanding officer and ask for assistance; he promises protection. Christie and myself go upstairs; my trunks broken open, and everything scattered in confusion over the floor. Oh! what a scene, impossible to describe! Money, jewelry and clothing of every description taken by these demons! Lieut. B. Ulrich gives us a guard, and stays himself in the house, to protect us; but little sleep for any of us this night.

" “February 23d. Thousands of Yankees coming in; one command follows another in quick succession; all robbing and plundering; poor Mrs. Brown is robbed of provisions, silver, and almost everything; they go down in the cellar and pour kerosene oil, molasses and feathers all together, then stir them up with their bayonets. Mrs. Brown and myself go out to meet General Logan. What an awful feeling to come so close to hundreds of Yankees who are burning and destroying everything on the face of the land! "

Monday, February 27th. The wicked Yankees! How they torment the people! The brutal wretches ! How they insult helpless women! they take every morsel of food that is being cooked in the kitchen; every fowl and every living thing they have killed and destroyed but one lone goose hidden in the cellar by a faithful servant. We had no meat for three days, when this servant attempted to save and cook the goose for us by cooking it in the dining-room; the savory smell of roast goose was perceived by Mrs. Brown and myself, who go to the dining-room and find a horde of ruffians devouring the last remnants of the goose, and we only say, ‘The last morsel of meat gone!’ A foraging party, led by a lieutenant, and a squad, led by a captain, plunder every corner of the house that has not been already searched.

Wednesday, March 1st. Dr. Robert Kinloch and Lieutenant Swinton Bissell come in quite early and tell us of their escape from the Yankees, after having marched several days through mud knee deep. The Yankees were pushing rapidly for Camden, to plunder and rob the peaceful, quiet little town. We are starving here; have nothing left to eat but sorghum molasses and black shorts bread. Sherman’s army has left no living thing on their route; nothing but blackened chimneys and smoking ruins mark his path from Columbia here; pillage, robbery, fire and ruin marked their footsteps here; a sigh of relief and a prayer of thankfulness that our lives were spared was breathed as we saw the last Yankee soldier disappear from the devastated little village.”

https://www.accessgenealogy.com/sou...iences-with-shermans-army-at-liberty-hill.htm
 
It must have been terrifying. I just bumped into a similar account while looking for something else and like this, it's difficult to read. " Women in the War " is a comprehensive topic- one day someone will get around to including accounts like these in a book along with all the others.

Mrs. C. P. Poppenheim.
Charleston, S. C.

" In a few moments, a band of ruffians, a wild, savage looking set, dashed in the house, into the dining-room, and swept all the silver from the table, that was set for dinner; ran upstairs, broke open doors, locks and drawers, and the utmost confusion prevailed; the hammering sounded like one dozen carpenters were at work, and soon all the floors were covered with scattered papers, in their search for money and valuables. I go to the commanding officer and ask for assistance; he promises protection. Christie and myself go upstairs; my trunks broken open, and everything scattered in confusion over the floor. Oh! what a scene, impossible to describe! Money, jewelry and clothing of every description taken by these demons! Lieut. B. Ulrich gives us a guard, and stays himself in the house, to protect us; but little sleep for any of us this night.

" “February 23d. Thousands of Yankees coming in; one command follows another in quick succession; all robbing and plundering; poor Mrs. Brown is robbed of provisions, silver, and almost everything; they go down in the cellar and pour kerosene oil, molasses and feathers all together, then stir them up with their bayonets. Mrs. Brown and myself go out to meet General Logan. What an awful feeling to come so close to hundreds of Yankees who are burning and destroying everything on the face of the land! "

Monday, February 27th. The wicked Yankees! How they torment the people! The brutal wretches ! How they insult helpless women! they take every morsel of food that is being cooked in the kitchen; every fowl and every living thing they have killed and destroyed but one lone goose hidden in the cellar by a faithful servant. We had no meat for three days, when this servant attempted to save and cook the goose for us by cooking it in the dining-room; the savory smell of roast goose was perceived by Mrs. Brown and myself, who go to the dining-room and find a horde of ruffians devouring the last remnants of the goose, and we only say, ‘The last morsel of meat gone!’ A foraging party, led by a lieutenant, and a squad, led by a captain, plunder every corner of the house that has not been already searched.

Wednesday, March 1st. Dr. Robert Kinloch and Lieutenant Swinton Bissell come in quite early and tell us of their escape from the Yankees, after having marched several days through mud knee deep. The Yankees were pushing rapidly for Camden, to plunder and rob the peaceful, quiet little town. We are starving here; have nothing left to eat but sorghum molasses and black shorts bread. Sherman’s army has left no living thing on their route; nothing but blackened chimneys and smoking ruins mark his path from Columbia here; pillage, robbery, fire and ruin marked their footsteps here; a sigh of relief and a prayer of thankfulness that our lives were spared was breathed as we saw the last Yankee soldier disappear from the devastated little village.”

https://www.accessgenealogy.com/sou...iences-with-shermans-army-at-liberty-hill.htm
Not to defend Sherman but he had said that war started in South Carolina and he was going to make them pay.the troops were ordered not to do these acts but it was not something that was enforced
 
Not to defend Sherman but he had said that war started in South Carolina and he was going to make them pay.the troops were ordered not to do these acts but it was not something that was enforced

In other words, they were encouraged. There's no other way to describe 'unenforced' orders.
 
In the book Spring 1865: The Closing Campaigns of the Civil War
By Perry D. Jamieson, it states: For the most part, though, in North Carolina the invaders indulged in less of the capricious destruction that they had inflicted in South Carolina. Drawing a distinction between the two states, Sherman ordered brevet Major General Judson Kilpatrick " Deal as moderately and fairly by the North Carolinians as possible, and fan the flame of discord already subsisting between them and their proud cousins of South Carolina. There was never much love between them." In addition to this theory held by their commander, the Union soldiers themselves seemed to have spent their bitterness in South Carolina, the state many of them blamed for starting the war. North Carolina, in contrast, was not a Deep South state, had many Unionists, and had been the next to last state to secede. As the historians who edited Sherman's letters point out, "In such a case the olive branch might prove more effective than the sword in drawing these people back to the Union."
 
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